Espada series III Air conditioning upgrade ...expansion valve substitution?

Hello,

I am "resurrecting" a late 1979 Espada series III for a friend... One of the things I need to do, while the dash and windshield is out...is to get the air conditioning...cooling again..

I had to deal with a design flaw, namely, inadequate blower motor rubber supports, causing the motor and squirrel fans to rattle within the fan housing... That was quite the adventure... I will document the steps, and the solutions in another thread... I am sure other series 3 Espada owners have this issue.....or soon will...

A decision was made to convert this car from R12, to R134. There were lots of sludge, and most likely not working for many years.... Most of the components are popular parts used on other cars.. The compressor ( (Ford Tecumseh) , drier (Four Season generic), and hoses (re made by Hose Man) easily sourced.....

One part that has slowed down the progress, is the expansion valve... The original valve is a Egelhof "LS" with 1/2 flare, and 5/8 flare with 37 degree seating. I believe this to be JIC specifications...? I have done an exhaustive internet search, and no Egelhof source....or substitute....

I could use a generic expansion valve with normal SAE 45 degree flare...but I just had hoses made using the original ends. Argh... ..Before going to the effort of adapters...

Anybody have experience in converting from R12, to R134? What expansion valve did you use? Do you have a part number for a substitute part?

Thanks in advance

Paul


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Hello all,

I guess I answered my own question... I did more research on what expansion valve Lamborghini used on the series III Espada.

It turns out they used a Egelhof brand expansion valve LS, as used on 108 model 60's Mercedes, and some BMWs. I found someone with an NOS Egelhof expansion valve on Ebay, at a VERY good price.

The Mercedes part number is 1088350272. Other parts numbers that cross reference to this number are 38608, 840302N, and NRF 38352. This valve had limited use, and is NLA "no longer available."

The flare fittings are JIC at the expansion valve, and the evaporator core. (The seating surfaces 37 degrees, NOT SAE 45).

I would have used a more widely available valve, if the evaporator, and the hose fittings were SAE.. There is always the option of JIC to SAE flare adaptors. They are not easy to find among the various vendors in the right configuration.

I will document my adventure with the ventilation squirrel fan motor rubber support failure, and solution, on another thread..

Best Regards

Paul